Armenia

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has treated the statement of the Armenian side that the Azerbaijani soldiers have left the new combat positions equipped on the Nakhichevan section of the border as disinformation.

About 2400 people gathered at the rally of the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" in Yerevan. A year has passed after the "velvet revolution", but the promised economic changes have not happened; the new government only sows hatred and enmity, trying to distract citizens from real problems, protesters have stated.

Today, Aram Simonyan, whose resignation was demanded by student activists, has voluntarily left the post of Rector of the Yerevan State University (YeSU). As explained by the press secretary of the university, Mr Simonyan does not want to darken the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the YeSU with the struggle around his candidacy.

The positions of the Azerbaijani army in the conflict zone were shelled for 21 times during the last 24 hours; two border villages came under fire, the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed.

About 10,000 military servicemen are taking part in the exercises, launched on May 20 in Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported. In its turn, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has stated that the undeclared exercises violate the commitments to the OSCE.

The call of Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Premier, to block courthouses is beyond the Armenian legislation, said Larisa Alaverdyan, a former Armenian Ombudsperson. The police failed to take actions to unblock courthouses, as they obey the Prime Minister, not the law, Avetik Ishkhanyan, a rights defender, believes.